What Iranians Say Now About ‘the Great Satan’

Slide Show | Anxiety and Expectation in Iran Photos of every day life in Tehran and Isfahan.

Maryam Rahmanian for The New York Times

December 21, 2013

Editorial Observer

By CAROL GIACOMO

TEHRAN — The old American Embassy building in the heart of this capital city was recently opened to tours for Westerners. It is now a museum run by the Revolutionary Guard and its Basiji paramilitary allies, where they keep alive a paranoid narrative of American malice and deceit by showcasing dust-encrusted spy equipment and a modern mural of alleged American perfidies.

Chants of “Death to America” remain a feature of Friday prayers at Tehran University, even though they seem more of a perfunctory ritual than a real display of rage.

On a visit to Iran this month, I attended the weekly prayer session at the university and sat near a woman who appeared to be in her 70s. She had made the journey from one of the far corners of the city to honor her son, killed in the Iran-Iraq war more than 20 years ago. As we chatted, a female security guard glared at me and delivered her version of the chant: “Death to America ... America doesn’t keep its promises.” The elderly woman was unfazed by the security guard’s outburst. She showed me a photo of her son and said she wished only for “God to help us and make things better.” Another woman nearby smiled and rolled her eyes, as if to dismiss the guard’s tirade.

The reactions I received as an American traveling for 10 days in Tehran, Isfahan and Qum mirrored Iran’s politics and posture in this moment — there is a serious, even eager, interest in reconnecting with the West, even as Iranians struggle with three decades of poisoned relations.

In theory, no Islamic country is better positioned to play a leading role in the tumultuous Middle East, given Iran’s geographic location, oil wealth, territorial cohesion and the sophistication of its elites. But its potential has been stunted for 30 years because of the misunderstanding and deep mistrust in its relations with the United States.

The scars created by a history of foreign invasions, an American-British coup against a democratically elected leader in 1953 and American support for the last shah are not forgotten. Likewise, the United States has not gotten over the 444 days of captivity for the American hostages seized in the embassy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In the decades since, Iran’s support for extremist groups like Hezbollah, the anti-Israel diatribes of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country’s dogged pursuit of a nuclear program have only made it more isolated from the rest of the world.

Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, a leader of the American embassy takeover, is now a leading voice for political reform.

Maryam Rahmanian for The New York Times

But the election this year of a more moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, and the recent interim nuclear deal with Iran, the United States and other major powers have raised hopes in Iran for change.

One important voice in advancing that transformation is Grand Ayatollah Youssef Saanei, who was sidelined during Mr. Ahmadinejad’s presidency and this month was allowed to give his first interview in at least four years. Mr. Saanei, the leading progressive clerical supporter of Mr. Rouhani, criticized Mr. Ahmadinejad for damaging Iran and Islam and preached a reformist political line. He endorsed the nuclear deal and said that, “today the people in power in Iran and the people in power in the United States should forgive each other, should forget the past and start the friendship.”

Reformists like Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, a leader in the American Embassy takeover, are another important force. Mr. Asgharzadeh now advocates better ties with America and is working to reform Iran’s political system so that the role of the military is diminished and ordinary citizens have more freedoms and a greater say in politics.

A third factor is the huge population of young people (more than half of Iran’s 80 million people were under 35 in 2012) who worry most about getting jobs in an economy crippled by international sanctions and Mr. Ahmadinejad’s mismanagement and corruption. In one of Iran’s paradoxes, technology stores in Tehran are jammed with the latest Apple laptops and iPhones (or good imitations) despite punishing international sanctions, yet the state coffers are nearly empty.

THE shift created by Mr. Rouhani’s election does not, however, alter the regime’s radical underpinnings or erase the power of hard-liners working against international engagement and any loosening of the Iranian system. Among them is Hossein Shariatmadari, whose business card describes him as the “Supreme Leader’s representative” at Kayhan, Iran’s leading conservative newspaper. He did not support Mr. Rouhani, does not believe in compromise with the United States and warned, in an interview this month, that if nuclear negotiations fail and America or Israel takes military action against Iran’s nuclear program, “Iran will retaliate.”

Even the most optimistic advocates of Mr. Rouhani’s agenda are convinced that if the nuclear deal fails and he is unable to get sanctions lifted in time to revive the economy, radical Islamists will resurge more powerfully than before. While rigid controls on socializing, head covers for women, music and political discourse have relaxed somewhat in recent months, people are still fearful. Street musicians and student activists, for instance, were willing to talk about their activities but did not want their last names published.

Still, these dark forces were not the dominant impressions of my trip. At a mosque in the ancient city of Isfahan, I met two dozen male college students, all of them enthusiastic about speaking to an American. They were eager to debate United States policy and expressed remarkable affinity for the country some Iranians still call “the Great Satan.” Their generation represents Iran’s best hope for opening its future to the world.